


A Huntsman's pain

by dragoonsbeard



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Execution, Heavy Angst, Merthur - Freeform, Only if you squint - Freeform, Self-Sacrifice, What Have I Done, is what i like to imagine, or die, prepare to cry, pyre, secretly in love, sentenced to death, your choice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 12:00:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15773685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragoonsbeard/pseuds/dragoonsbeard
Summary: Merlin is sentenced to death. he will be burnt at the pyre





	A Huntsman's pain

Bound tightly upon his wrists was rope, course fibres that burnt the skin. The guards on either side of the man marched forward dragging his weary legs along. Capes of scarlet fluttered behind them but the man they dragged did not care for such subtle details, as he had only eyes for the wooden pyre before him.

It towered over the mingling towns people who stood to watch the soon erupting flames. Merlin felt ill. Around him were crowds of faces peering at him with distaste, as if he were vermin or a sickness they would readily eliminate. The blue eyed boy swayed on his feet and for the first time today he was glad for the knights bruising grip.

Merlin had never noticed so many things before now. In the short remaining moments of his life every past regret, hope and emotion came bubbling to the surface. He could see clearly, the wrongs of this word and its people. How blinded they are by hatred a hatred that seeped into their minds by association. a brainwashing that latched on to all those who would hear it.

He could see clearly, the tyrant Uther who stood upon his banister glaring down from above. A tyrant that spat out his fate by cruel design. to sentence another to death because the inconvenience that he never made. born into death. the unfairness of it all.

The knights of Camelot forced him up onto the wooden platform and tied his hands fast to the post. The warlock did not struggle, what would that solve, and yet his time was waining. Deaths embrace ghosted over his skin.

The knights stood back beyond the reach of oncoming flames. A heartless cold reflected in the eyes of all who were here to witness his execution. These people were not human anymore, what kept them human was compassion and with that scarce. Merlin realised he was to die alone. Burning.

A part of him broke, he was revealed as a sorcerer. merlin had no need to hide or cower behind lies and as men welding fiery torches approached. He realised how he had never felt so _free._ Whilst the flames gradually crawled up the dry sticks merlin found himself singing a broken tune. Because merlin had decided that his death would be remembered, this death of his will be a horror that will forever scar the minds of all who saw. And maybe then they will see what they had done.

_This young man he died fair soon_

_Out of the light of a mages moon_

Merlins found the eyes of another upon the banister, pools of ocean blue gazed back down at him. They were flooded with agony, restrained by a thin lipped expression that forced back his sorrows. Merlin did not look away, if this was the last thing he was to see it would be the eyes of the man who he had sacrificed for. 

Emrys savoured every last detail Arthur had, from the golden halo of hair atop his head, to his white knuckled hand that gripped fiercely upon the stone.

_’Twas not but fire, but forged in flame_

_That can drown the sorrows of a huntsman’s pain_

The devouring inferno rose, scorched wood cracked as glowing embers lifted to the sky, red was now lapping at merlins thighs. He bit back a pained cry but soon, staining the boys vision was scarlet. The only thing left to choke back his screams, was the bellowing black smoke that engulfed him.

**Author's Note:**

> The song is; the devil and the huntsman from the king Arthur movie soundtrack.


End file.
